Fashion legend Yves Saint Laurent is brought to life in a biopic released this week.

Feted as a visionary but tormented genius who reshaped the silhouette of 20th century women, Yves Saint Laurent comes back to life this week in the first biopic of the man known as the "prince of fashion".

The film by French actor-turned-director Jalil Lespert focuses on 20 years of the designer's life between 1956 and 1976 that saw him burst onto the fashion scene – first at Dior then at the head of his own house – and ascend to fame and fortune.

It is also a love story – that of Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge, whose up-and-down relationship reveals the "dark, sombre face" of a man who at times plunged into depression, drugs and alcohol, and was unfaithful.

Saint Laurent, who died in 2008 aged 71, dominated the international couture scene from the swinging 1960s, revolutionising women's wardrobes with a new androgynous style that mirrored women's push for a stronger social role.

He is also widely credited as the first to employ black models, and British supermodel Naomi Campbell in 2008 paid tribute to a man she said promoted women of colour on the runway.

Lespert, 37, told AFP he wanted to "tell a love story and at the same time a story about people who fight for their dreams".

He pointed to "the historic and national importance" of the designer "through his creations, men's clothes – trousers, tuxedos, reefer jackets – which he democratised for women at a time when French society was changing".

Saint Laurent is played by 24-year-old actor Pierre Niney, a rising star who joined the prestigious Comedie Francaise theatre when he was just 21. Tall, slim, and wearing Saint Laurent's trademark black-rimmed glasses, Niney morphs into the 1.85m designer in the film.

In order to play the fashion legend, he first read up about Saint Laurent to get his head round a person he knew very little about. Four-and-a-half months later, he was taught fashion design and drawing. Niney also underwent coaching to imitate Saint Laurent's soft, halting voice.

"I worked with a woman who drew for Saint Laurent for 15 years. I also learnt to recognise the ... coded vocabulary of workshops," he said.

Berge is played by Guillaume Gallienne, a French actor who is also part of the Comedie Francaise.

Lespert said he wanted two actors who had received classical theatre training to better encapsulate the language used at the time, and Saint Laurent's specific way of speaking. Berge okayed the film, unlike another biopic on Saint Laurent due to come out in May.

Saint Laurent was born in 1936 in Algeria, when the North African country was still French territory. A shy lonely child born to a well-off family, he was taunted over his homosexuality and became fascinated by clothes.

He arrived in Paris in 1953, aged 17, with a portfolio of sketches and the following year won three of the four categories in a Paris design competition – the fourth went to his rival Karl Lagerfeld, now at Chanel.

Saint Laurent started out at Christian Dior and then struck out on his own, with Berge taking care of the business side. He went from strength to strength, mixing along the way with famous people, and his name and the YSL logo became synonymous with all the latest trends.

But in his later years, the depression that haunted him all his life became more oppressive, and at his farewell bash in 2002 Saint Laurent admitted to having recourse to "those false friends which are tranquilisers and narcotics". — AFP Relaxnews

Aubrey Plaza, Oliver Platt and Jeff Goldblum have joined the cast of Mortdecai, the action comedy starring Johnny Depp. Based on Kyril Bonfiglioli's series of novels, the film has already wrapped production in London and is now moving to Los Angeles.

Depp stars as an art dealer and rogue in search of a stolen painting that holds the code to a lost bank account filled with Nazi gold. Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn and Paul Bettany also star in the film, which Lionsgate will distribute. It marks the first project under OddLot Entertainment's new co-production and co-financing deal with Lionsgate.

The film has added a troika of busy actors to an already strong cast. Plaza, a star of NBC's Parks & Recreation, continues to build her film resume after roles in comedies such as Scott Pilgrim Vs The World and Safety Not Guaranteed. She starred as a misfit teenage girl in last summer's The To Do List and plays the title character in the upcoming Life After Beth.

Platt, a regular supporting player in movies, TV and theatre, will appear in five movies opening this year, including Jon Favreau's Chef and Michael Cuesta's Kill The Messenger while Goldblum just finished a run in the play Domesticated. — Reuters

Fresh off a spirited turn in Inside Llewyn Davis, John Goodman has joined the cast of The Gambler, Paramount's upcoming remake of the 1974 drama, TheWrap has learned. Paramount had no comment.

Mark Wahlberg plays the title character in the film, which is being directed by Rupert Wyatt (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes). Karel Reisz directed the original film, which starred James Caan as a a literature professor whose gambling addiction lands him in hot water with his girlfriend, his mother and some unsavoury gangsters.

Brie Larson, Jessica Lange, Michael K. Williams and Travis Tope will co-star in the remake, in which Goodman will play a Jewish loan shark, to whom Wahlberg finds himself indebted. Screenwriter James Toback based the original film on his own life, though Oscar winner William Monahan (The Departed) penned this new version of the crime drama, which follows a similar trajectory. Irwin Winkler, a producer on the first film, will produce this one as well.

Goodman is an iconic actor who has worked tirelessly for three decades. In addition to Llewyn Davis, he played the heavy in The Hangover Part III this year. Goodman also had an uncredited cameo in The Internship and reprised his beloved role of Sully in Pixar's hit sequel Monsters University.

Additionally, Goodman starred in Amazon's first original comedy series Alpha House, and he'll soon be seen alongside George Clooney and Matt Damon in The Monuments Men, which Sony opens in February. Paramount plans to release The Gambler in 2015. — Reuters